Sunday, October 3, 2010

Asheville, NE to Charleston, SC

Another fun day in paradise. We started this morning with a 3 hour Segway tour of downtown Asheville. It was a little cool but a fun day. It was just the four of us plus the guide. Since we all had previous experience with Segways we had a quick refresher course and then we were off on the tour. Normally the guide allows up to an hour for instruction.

The tour left from the Asheville Tourist Information Center. This is a new building just north of downtown. It is where we picked up the Trolley tour yesterday, and the Segway tour today. They can assist with information, finding hotels/motels, and just a wealth of information on the Asheville area.

The grounds are beautiful and well maintained also. It has lots of planting beds and sculptures.

We explored Montfort Historic District near the Visitors Center and then headed downtown. There is an amazing quantity of bronze sculptures around the downtown area. The are all freestanding….similar to this grouping in front of the Asheville Civic Center.

These are just two of the statues that were in this area, but all were of people enjoying the music of the banjo and fiddle player. It also was a great area to drive Seqways around and between the figures!

These cats were found in a different area of downtown. The one on the wall was actually watching a small bronze mouse.

We made a stop at the City Bakery for a snack and some coffee. The Segways are deactivated (and alarmed) so they cannot be driven away while we were inside.

We also say the Deco Gecko during our tour. That is Scott on the Segway.

Unfortunately our tour came to an end and we headed out for a 250 mile drive to Charleston, SC. It was a nice drive. We continued to see Kudzu that had taken over the trees in some areas. As much as Kudzu is a real problem, it does turn the overgrown areas in the interesting natural topiaries.

Tonight being Sunday, we didn’t find the local restaurants open (at least near the hotel), so settled for Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner. At our table we had Louisiana Shrimp, Crab Cake, and Chicken Pasta.

Tomorrow we are going to tour Fort Sumter and the Yorktown Aircraft Carrier. I am sure there is more in store for us also.